


Haunted Nights

by iLibra



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, MGS Rarepair Week, Nightmares, So much angst, but also fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-29 21:02:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10144067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iLibra/pseuds/iLibra
Summary: Their summer was fun. Hal stayed over more and more often, for reasons he never talked about. And they knew, but never talked about it.Tonight, his memories haunted him and nightmares plagued him, but at least he wasn't alone.Written for MGS Rarepair Week Day 1 "Uncomfortable Situations"





	

How Hal had ended up in this situation, he had no idea. Although, if he was perfectly honest, he knew damn well how all this had happened. That didn't mean he had any idea what he was supposed to do now.

He had spent his day like every other at David's house. Lately he had stayed over almost every day of their summer break. Playing video games with David and occasionally his twin brother was fun and from time to time he could even convince them to watch one of his favorite anime with him. Eli always pretended like he hated them, but Hal could see that the opposite was true. Hal was glad spending time with the twins could take his mind off of things and give him a reason for staying away from home, even if he missed seeing E.E. more often sometimes. But he just... needed some space right now.

And today had gone by just like any other day until they all went to bed that evening. Hal slept on the floor and Eli and David on either side of him in their respective beds. Hal had a hard time falling asleep today, like so many other nights before, the snoring that came from both sides not soothing like usual, but bothersome.

After some hours of moving from side to side, Hal did eventually fall into a light sleep, but not for long. His dreams were plagued by what had happened not too long ago. Not long enough to forget. He could never shake the feeling of being a failure for letting this happen. It was all his fault. What scared him most about his dreams were her eyes, the image forever burned into his memory.

He woke up with a gasp, droplets of sweat beading on his forehead and his breathing ragged.

It was... just a nightmare. Just a nightmare, a dream, he kept repeating to himself. He tried to get his breathing under control, taking slow and steady breaths through his mouth. He squeezed his eyes shut, he didn't want to wake anyone up, yet the pain in his chest didn't subside.

His panic only rose when he heard rustling next to him. He didn't want to be seen like this, not by David and especially not by Eli.

“What's going on?” he heard Eli's sleepy voice from his left. Damn it. Why did it have to be him? Hal tried to keep his eyes shut, but then remembered that he had sat up after he woke up, so there was no way of trying to convince Eli that he was still asleep. That didn't mean that Hal wanted to open his eyes though.

He heard some more shuffling, despite the blood rushing in his ears and his breathing refusing to calm down. The sound of footsteps didn't make it to his ears though; Hal didn't notice until he felt someone dropping down next to him. Hal was sure his knuckles were starting to turn white from how tightly he was gripping his blanket.

“You know I'm not good at this.” he heard Eli say with a sigh and even though this confused him, Hal still didn't want to open his eyes and face the smirk that Eli just had to have on his face. To his surprise though Eli didn't sound amused at all when he said “Come on.”

Hal's breathing almost stopped again when he felt Eli wrapping his arms around his shoulders. He snapped his eyes open and stared at the ceiling and then the blond head next to him. Hal started to gasp for air, not sure what to do with this situation. A situation he knew how he got into, yet had no idea how to deal with. Apparently his gut reaction was to start crying out of nowhere, his repressed feelings and memories bubbling to the surface all at once.

Eli only hugged him tighter, pulled him closer, so Hal's face was buried in the crook of his neck. After another long moment of hesitation, Hal slowly lifted his arms, his body shaking with his sobs, and slung them around Eli's shirtless back (he never wore a shirt to bed). Hal's sobs were muffled by Eli's shoulder and Hal tried to calm down again. He didn't need both twins to see him in this miserable state.

When Hal's gasps started to turn into regular intakes of breath again, Eli pulled back to look at his face and to Hal's reoccurring surprise Eli's eyes were full of honest sadness and worry. Hal was taken aback, not sure what to do or where to look. He took in a sharp breath when the other cupped his cheek with his hand and leaned forward. Hal was pretty sure he could feel his heart stop when their lips met. Now he really had no idea how he ended up in this situation.

Hal's eyes closed on their own accord. He tried breathing through his nose, no idea how to move his lips or what to do with his hands, except for keeping them on Eli's back. Fortunately for him though, Eli took over the kiss, putting his hand on Hal's neck, keeping him steady. He didn't notice Eli was pushing him down until his head hit the pillow behind him.

When Eli pulled back, the first thing Hal noticed was that he had calmed down, way faster than he could usually manage to do. He stared at Eli's hooded eyes, not able to avert his gaze. He looked so vulnerable, like he was afraid Hal could push him away at any moment. But that was really the last thing Hal was thinking about in this moment.

“Are you... okay?” Eli whispered, the still sleeping person in the room almost forgotten, but not quite. Hal was about to nod when he thought, no, he wasn't okay and admitting it with a shake of his head felt so relieving. He could see the hurt and anger in Eli's eyes and Hal wanted to tell him so many things. That it wasn't his fault, that he shouldn't feel pity, that it was all Hal's fault and he had to deal with it on his own, and that despite it all, it still hurt. He didn't want anyone to worry about him or feel pity for him. But all that came out was a repressed sigh and some more tears that trailed down his cheeks and, not knowing what to do, Hal pulled Eli closer again, meeting in a gentle kiss. Being so close to Eli gave him a new kind of comfort and before he knew it, he fell asleep again, soothed by a pair of lips kissing his forehead.

 

\--------------------------------------------------

 

“What the hell?” said the loud voice that woke Eli from his sleep. For some reason he was lying on the floor and not in his bed. Did he fall down during the night or something?

He slowly looked up at David, who was first looking at him and then down next to Eli and when Eli followed his gaze he saw Hal. He was not only still asleep, but also curled up in Eli's arms. That's when he remembered.

He gave David a look that said “If you wake him up, you're gonna regret it.” and David quietly sat up in his bed, understanding what Eli meant.

“What happened?” David whispered, now looking more worried than curious. They both knew what Hal had to go through, even if he never talked about it. They could see it in his eyes, that always seemed to look sad, even when he was smiling. Eli looked down again.

“Ha had a tough night.” was all he said. He wanted to keep what had happened between them a secret for now, not only for Hal's sake, but because he wanted to treasure the moment they had last night.

David didn't need any more clarification. He quietly got up from his bed and went to the bathroom. Eli, in the meanwhile, let his head sink back into the pillow, taking in the view of Hal's peaceful, sleeping face in front of him.

He wanted to hold on to this moment just a little longer, before they would both fall back into their routine of Eli teasing Hal about being such a huge nerd and Hal pretending like it didn't hurt him.

But for now this was... fine.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> I changed the plot of this story at least 6 times and wrote this whole thing today! Unfortunately I probably won't be able to keep up with the other days of rarepair week, as much as I love my rarepairs, but school is kicking my butt this week, so maybe there will be some late entries in the next couple of days.  
> I really really love Otaquid and wished I could write more stuff for them, but there are definitely some things planned!  
> But I hoped you enjoyed reading this and have some love for this ship!
> 
> This is not beta read, since my betareader is busy and I wanted to post this in time, so I hope there aren't too many mistakes Dx
> 
> I would be really happy about some feedback in the comments or on tumblr ( [ilibra.tumblr.com](http://ilibra.tumblr.com) ) OR on twitter ( <https://twitter.com/iLiibra> )


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